1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates generally to eyeglass accessories and more particularly to a novel eyeglass holder to be mounted in an automotive vehicle, boat, airplane, office, room, or other location for holding eyeglasses when not in use, and in such a way that glasses may be conveniently placed in and removed from the holder.
2. Prior Art
Eyeglasses are made in two basic types, referred to herein as conventional glasses and clip-on glasses. Conventional glasses may be normal prescription glasses, sun glasses, or prescription sunglasses and have a nose bridge and hinged temples which are foldable into crossing or endwise overlapping relation behind the nose bridge to place the glasses in a compact folded configuration in which the glasses may be placed in a pocket or other receptacle. Clip-on glasses are usually sunglasses and have clips rather than temples for releasable attachment to conventional glasses.
Eyeglass holders are useful in those situations in which eyeglasses are worn intermittently in one particular location and/or are always left at that location when the wearer leaves the location. In these situations, it is convenient to have an eyeglass holder available into which the eyeglasses may be easily placed when not in use and from which the glasses may be easily removed when needed. This eliminates the neccessity of looking for the glasses when needed and avoids damage to the glasses when not in use.
Some of the places where the above situation arises are automotive vehicles, boats, airplanes, offices, rooms, and the like. Thus, persons operating vehicles, such as automotive vehicles, airplanes, and boats, generally wear sun glasses in bright daylight or sunlight and remove the sunglasses when the light dims. Some vehicle operators wear prescription glasses when operating a vehicle. In each case, the glasses are often left in the vehicle at all times. Unless the glasses are placed in a holder when not in use, they are easily misplaced, lost, or damaged, and are especially difficult for the operator to locate when driving. Searching for glasses when driving also creates an additional driving risk. Other places where this situation arises is in an office or in a room of a home in which glasses are worn intermittently and/or left when the wearer leaves.
One common type of existing eyeglass holder is a pouch or hinged-cover holder of the kind which are often provided with eyeglasses when purchased. These holders may be placed in the pocket or on a support. While satisfactory for some purposes, these holders are undesirable or unsuitable for use in the situations mentioned above. In the first place, these holders are just as prone to being misplaced or lost as eyeglasses themselves. Further, two hands are required to place glasses in and remove glasses from such holders. Accordingly, these holders are not suitable for use by operators of moving vehicles.
The best eyeglass holder for the situations mentioned above is one which is fixed to a relatively stationary support of some kind, such as a sun visor, rear view mirror, or dash of a vehicle, an office or room wall, a desk, shelve, or the like. The prior art is replete with a number of patents disclosing eyeglass holders of this kind. Among these patents are the following: U.S. Pat. Nos. 2,468,437, 2,826,387, 2,884,220, 3,195,731, 3,817,392, 4,695,026, 4,715,575, 4,946,125, 5,046,696, 5,137,242.